


Trust Me

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Series: In-Between Scenes [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Post Season Four, lotor is trying so hard, naxella is minorly mentioned, please trust him, we're not focusing on Keith's attempted suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 01:05:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17909099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: Set Post season four, um, is anyone else wondering how negotiations with Lotor went or is that just me? Anyone? Minor mentioning of Keith's attempted suicide run, but that's not the main focus.





	Trust Me

“It’s time we had a talk.”

“Open fire on Lotor’s ship,” Olia commanded, and all of the rebels obeyed. Lotor pulled up a particle barrier, still on their comms.

“Is that any way to treat a potential ally? Especially after I just saved the poor fool in the stolen Galra fighter?”

There was a heavy silence that settled in. Keith frowned. Who was the- oh, that was him. _He_ was the poor fool. Right.

“I only require an audience with Voltron’s leaders. Is my request to be granted, or shall I try some other way?”

Olia was the one who answered. “We need to discuss this.”

“Of course.”

“In private.”

“That is wise.”

Lotor’s side of the comm shut off, and Matt was the first to respond. “No way. We _can’t_ let him near the paladins. That’s out of the question; it’ll put them in danger.”

The smooth-faced alien behind him spoke up. “You’re letting your feelings for your sister get in the way of logic, Matt. Lotor would be a valuable ally.”

“Or a destructive enemy. He’s beaten the _lions themselves_ at every twist and turn! You really want to let him in with the paladins?”

Olia held a hand up. “Matt, calm down. Keith, what do you think? You were foremost on the Blade hunt for Lotor and you’ve been with Voltron the longest. Do you think we should allow this?”

Keith hesitated. His gut instinct was to say no and that they shouldn’t allow Lotor near the paladins. But then, he was prejudiced after his long hunt for Lotor. He needed to think logically. Yes, Lotor was a skilled fighter. Yes, he could probably hurt or even kill a few of the paladins if he was let in with them.

On the other hand, however, he knew a lot of information. He was on the run from the Empire, and if you were on the run from the Empire, chances were that Voltron was your best shot at survival. And Lotor seemed very much like he wanted to survive.

“We shouldn’t just let him in,” he finally answered, “but we can give him a shot. A chance.” He commed Lotor back in. “Lotor, we’ll let you have an audience with Voltron, but only on certain conditions.”

“Of course.”

“You will surrender all of your weapons to us first and will go into the castle through one of _our_ ships, not your sincline ship. You will allow us to handcuff you. You will only speak to the paladins through a containment pod. And you’ll allow us to tranquilize you until you are securely in the containment pod.”

Lotor considered their offer. “I accept your conditions, with the exception of the last. I will _not_ sit helpless and unconscious. It is already an act of faith that I surrender my weapons and allow myself to be locked up as a prisoner. My faith in your honor does not go so far as to allow you to render me completely subject to your whims.”

Keith grudgingly nodded. That was only fair; he’d ask the same if he were in Lotor’s shoes. “Fine. Disarm yourself now, and then come to Olia’s ship with a pod. We’ll tow the sincline.”

Lotor dropped his sword with a _clang_ on the seat of his ship, holding his hands up and showing that he had no more weapons before turning and walking towards the pod bay of his ship.

“Keep eyes on him at all times,” Olia ordered, “And get a pair of handcuffs ready.”

When Voltron and the Castle finally arrived, Lotor was cuffed and the rebel ships were ready to tow the sincline into the castle pod bay. When Keith exited the ship, he was immediately immobilized, something pinning his arms to his sides. He instinctively slammed his head into the nose of his attacker and wriggled out of their grip, yanking out his knife and pointing it at them.

Hunk staggered back, holding his nose with a grimace. “Oww! Keith! We’re on the same side!”

Keith sheathed his knife. “Sorry. Didn’t realize it was you.”

Pidge was looking at him with an unsettling amber gaze, her glasses glinting dangerously. “Matt told me about what you tried to do. You’re in trouble. Big trouble.”

Keith brushed her off. “We have bigger things to worry about right now. Namely, the Galran prince that is coming into the castle. Back up. We’re getting him in a containment pod.”

Once Lotor was safely in the containment pod, the cuffs immediately unlocked. He looked down at them and then looked at the paladins.

“I’m here to help.”

Allura’s eyes narrowed. “Prove it.”

“I have no proof other than the fact that I am here peacefully and that I saved the life of a Blade member, as well as saving Voltron and a third of the universe from Haggar’s bomb. If you do not consider that a sincere turn to your side, then there is no other way for me to convince you that my intention is good despite my bloodline.”

Allura tossed her head, as if throwing this information aside. Shiro stepped forward. “We are not averse to joining forces with the Galra, as evidenced by our alliance with the Blade of Marmora. However, you have made multiple attacks on us, in one of these attacks stealing a valuable asteroid—”

“Which I have now returned to you in the form of a weapon that can be used by you to aid your cause,” Lotor countered smoothly.

“Be that as it may, the point is that we have more reason to distrust you than we do to trust you.”

“You have nothing to fear from me.”

“You say that, but your past actions—”

“Perhaps if you would remember my past actions and compare them with what you know of the Galra, you would know that as of currently, my primary motivation is survival- which is why I’m here, now.”

“So you admit that if your survival were threatened, you’d betray us?”

“I don’t think that I could find better survival odds than here, with Voltron. Besides, while survival is my primary motivation, it is not my _only_ motivation. I have another motivation that requires outside allies.”

Lance frowned. “Yeah? What’s your other motivation, then?”

“I want to end this war, which is only possible with your help. I want to bring peace between the Empire and Voltron. To do that…”

“You need us,” Shiro finished, “I get it.”

“I can give you targets, information- things that will help you end this war and get through to my father that it is time to make peace and stop his cruel ways.”

Shiro nodded. “We’re going to discuss this. In private. We’ll come back with an answer.”

“And if the answer is no?”

“Then you’ll see what happened to Commander Sendak firsthand,” Allura said coldly. Keith winced at that coldness that had been directed at him not too long ago.

Keith followed the paladins and Matt out of the room.

“I think that we should give him a shot. If he betrays us, we can eject him into space.”

Shiro nodded. “It’s risky, but if it works out in our favor, it could win us this war.”

Allura shook her head. “It’s _too_ risky! Lotor has attacked us several times, and we cannot trust that he won’t betray us to try again!”

“Allura,” Keith said quietly, “he saved my life.”

“Speaking of which,” Pidge snapped, whirling around on him, “What was that stunt that you tried to pull?!”

“I told them,” Matt said quietly at Keith’s betrayed glare, “They deserved to know.”

“People get blown up all of the time. We lost ships in that battle- plenty of them. They all died for the cause. What I was going to do wasn’t any different. You’re only acting like this because we used to be a team.”

Hunk broke in. “No, Keith. We’re acting like this because what you did wasn’t just dying for the cause. It’s one thing to get shot down by Galran fleets. It’s another thing to attempt to fly head-on into a particle barrier!”

Keith brushed them off. “I didn’t want to die. I wanted to do what needed to be done. It’s not important right now. What’s important is Lotor. Are we going to take his offer, or not?”

“We?”

“Right now, I’m the only Blade member present, and the more senior Blade members can’t com- they’re busy cleaning up Naxella and the cannons. That means that I’m the representative of the Blade in this negotiation, whether you like it or not.”

“Not,” Lance muttered, but Keith ignored him.

“This is a coalition, not an Empire. We value our member’s opinions and votes. Matt, you represent the rebellion members. I vote we give Lotor a shot. We can always get rid of him if he double-crosses us. Everyone else?”

Shiro nodded. “I vote trust.”

“Trust,” Matt voted, but reluctantly.

“Trust,” Hunk voted.

“Don’t trust,” Allura voted, “I’m sorry, but I haven’t seen enough evidence to believe that he’s truly on our side.”

“I know he’s not,” Pidge supplied, “But the question is whether or not we can get something good out of him. I vote trust.”

“I vote no,” Lance put in, “But it basically doesn’t matter at this point because of the number of positive votes. So… I guess that Lotor’s on team Voltron. Great. Hooray.”

Shiro glanced in the room where Lotor was waiting for them. “Alright. The question is… What do we do now?”

Three hours later, they had an extensive list of possible targets that had low risk factor (but an unfortunately similarly low importance factor). Lotor was willing. A little _too_ willing, in Allura’s opinion, but Shiro ignored that sentiment. Keith got back into his fighter.

“I’ll go back to the Blade. We can coordinate attacks on these bases.”

“Be safe.”

Keith didn’t answer that, driving back out of the bay, and Shiro turned to Matt. “Thank you for telling us.”

“Not a problem. See you around.”

His ship was gone in another instant along with all of the other rebels, and Shiro turned to Allura.

“Where should we strike first?”

Allura examined the list. “This lava planet seems likely. Assuming Lotor isn’t tricking us.”

“Lava planet it is. Team, get to the lions. We have a war to win.”

**Author's Note:**

> As always, happy to take requests for other in-between scenes!


End file.
